Not Like the Rest
by rainingWolf
Summary: They were different from the others. They were forged by the past that clung to them, a past they could never shake from no matter what they do with their lives. Shaped by that, how could they break out from the mold? "I just want to do the right thing. I want to be a good person." What defines good or bad? Set during "The Long Way Down Job." Oneshot at friendship.


_I want to do the right thing! I want to be a good person!_

* * *

Eliot just stared, breathing in the harsh Arctic air as tears swelled into Parker's eyes, threatening to fall but hanging on as if knowing that if they fall, there would be no turning back. He paused as her words bounced off the ice walls, echoing into his mind, relieving him of his deepest, most desperate desires.

And Parker stared back, eyes red from the blowing wind that whipped her hair around like a golden cyclone. A sliver of a whisper escaped her lips as she turned away to look at the frozen body behind them. "I want to do the right thing…"

That single sentence stirred something in him as he turned on his flickering flashlight to aim it at Parker's face, illuminating it. "Hey." She cocked her head at his direction but she didn't turn to face him. "It's a good thing it was us."

Her head tilted a little more and in the shadow of the light, he saw a frown twisting her forehead as her lips drawn downwards, teeth biting her lips before they open to say in a watery but firm voice, "Because we'd leave him."

It was said as a statement, not a question. Her own flashlight beam wobbled a bit at the corpse before them before it turned off, leaving them in partial darkness.

A pause before he replied in an equally soft voice, "Because they would've kept trying and they would've froze to death right next to him," and he was pointing his light where Parker's was before, "every last one of them," and he could see Parker's gaze upon him as he ticked off one by one, "_especially_ Hardison," because it was all true and they were always honest with one another so the only thing left to say was, "so it was a good thing it was us."

Another beat and when Parker continued to stare resolutely at him without saying anything, he voiced what she could not. "The two of us… we do things they can't." Her mouth parted in a silent word which lisped off his tongue as well. "Won't."

And her mouth closed to purse into a thin line because what he said rang true and it rang so clear that it struck her in her heart. Another beat and he was shifting the ropes in his hands, stretching them and wrapping them around, and he would have missed it if he was a lesser man.

But he wasn't so he heard the hesitant question that was nearly drowned out by the howling of the wind. "That make us bad?"

He paused, his hands slacking on the rope as he took his eyes off it to see Parker's wide eyes looking at him. And he would not lie, would not make things up to comfort her because life hasn't been fair to either of them that he would say something that would make her believe that everything would be all right. And so, he settled with a simple statement that summed up everything. "It makes us… us."

And because he is not Nate who would awkwardly slither himself out of the situation, is not Sophie who would sophisticatedly explain herself in her eloquent mannerisms that deflect the true purpose of her words, is not Hardison who would stammer around and end up hugging everybody in order to convey his feelings, he continued plowing forward. "Now, you can take that as a gift," a pause as she shifted, eyes flashing, "or you can take it as a curse," and he looked back down towards the ropes in his hands, twisting them together, "that's up to you."

And with the way Parker's eyes narrowed, seemingly turning a darker shade, he knew what she was thinking. They were not good people. But they're not bad either. They are simply who they are, people who were changed by circumstances and misunderstood situations, people who still cling to their past and demons and those things define them.

And he's sure that she's remembering the time when they all thought Tara had back stabbed them. It didn't take a genius to figure out something had happened between the two. When they were all back together, Tara developed a miniscule twitch whenever she was around Parker, as if she was unsure that the airhead was entirely stable, as if the younger blonde would all of a sudden go insane and pick up a knife to start stabbing all of them.

And since the two of them had been at the rooftop when Nate discovered that someone had snitched, Eliot just put two and two together. Especially after Tara had pulled Parker aside, asking in a slightly worried tone if the younger was serious about dropping her from the top of the building.

Parker had just sent a tight smile and a laugh that didn't appear in her eyes, as if conveying that she was joking, that she would never seriously throw the older blonde from the rooftop. Tara had been satisfied and left with a sway in her steps but only he saw it.

Parker's eyes had been hard as diamonds, staring off into something only she could see, and in that moment, Eliot was absolutely certain that if Nate had given the word, that if Tara turned out to actually be the one who blew up their plans, Parker would have pushed the other off the edge of the building with no hesitation.

That is the truth and will always be. They are not like the others who try to do the moral thing and wipe their hands clean. They will willingly plunge their hands into the filth so that nobody else would.

That was their resolve and he saw that resolve reflected in Parker's eyes when she gave the frozen body behind them one final steady gaze before turning her back and making her way towards him. There were no need for words anymore and they both ascended towards the light.

* * *

- First Leverage fic so hopefully I don't butcher up Parker and Eliot's character too much. Hehe...

- Wanted to write a friendship/comfort fic about these two. I don't ship them romantically though... Haha.

- Wanted to show that these two are willing to do anything for the rest of the team even if they don't show their affections as easily as say Hardison, Sophie,, or Nate. Nate, at least in my opinion, tries to hide his true feelings but he doesn't really succeed as much as Parker or Eliot. The Thief and Hitter have a darker past than all the others.

- Feedback?

- Reviews are much appreciated.


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